..swapping wheels - will I notice?

deswahriff

..before I get my hands dirty and knuckles scraped swapping cassettes, any thoughts on this?
I've got a pair of Aksiums with Michelin Krylion 25mms on what is now the winter bike and the stock DT Swiss 3's and whatever tyres (espoir?) on my 5 week old Spesh Roubaix....

...do you reckon I'll notice a benefit if I swap the Aksiums over to the new bike?

cheers..

chrisvanderkaap

a lot of people will tell you it ain't worth it because it is 'good enough' and has a DT stamp on it. In reality it's a joytech build and leaves much to be desired. I think the Aksiums are about as heavy but in my experience are a little faster to wind up and a little bit more nimble in cornering. a set of fulcrum racing 3 or similar with pay more tribute to you ride but I suppose that's not in question atm.

petemadoc

Possibly a small difference. I have aksiums on my winter bike and I think they're quite good really.

However get some nice tyres on and you'll see a much bigger difference. I recently wore out my winter tyres and stuck last summers race tyres on as a stop gap and bloody hell everything feels so much smoother.

antfly

Aksiums are budget wheels not really an upgrade, they are solid and fairly reliable but give a harsh ride and have a dead feel to them and are heavy, no fun to ride on at all IME, especially in the hills. Replace them and you would notice a difference.

deswahriff

petemadoc wrote:

Possibly a small difference. I have aksiums on my winter bike and I think they're quite good really.

However get some nice tyres on and you'll see a much bigger difference. I recently wore out my winter tyres and stuck last summers race tyres on as a stop gap and bloody hell everything feels so much smoother.

update..
..so as a half way house ( and as my son had reclaimed his bike with my Aksiums on it!), I fitted a pair of Michelin Pro4 Service Course......wow, big difference indeed! I'm going to have to revert to all the review cliches..( fast rolling, easy to spin up to speed etc)..but I'm genuinely surprised at the noticeable improvements even I can discern - I'd kind of assumed all these thing you read in reviews don't apply to ordinary cyclists!..
...here's an example....you know when you're cruising along on the flat at a good sustainable pace, just in the right gear and cadence to bowl along nicely...then you either hit the smallest of inclines, or just lose concentration or take a drink, and find yourself off the pace and having to push just for 5 or 6 revolutions to get back up to speed...well that's when I really noticed it...felt effortless and almost instant response compared to before...

..so there we go, one rabbit in a euphoric state! ..next stop, a set of hand-builts for the summer....

ugo.santalucia

deswahriff wrote:

petemadoc wrote:

Possibly a small difference. I have aksiums on my winter bike and I think they're quite good really.

However get some nice tyres on and you'll see a much bigger difference. I recently wore out my winter tyres and stuck last summers race tyres on as a stop gap and bloody hell everything feels so much smoother.

update..
..so as a half way house ( and as my son had reclaimed his bike with my Aksiums on it!), I fitted a pair of Michelin Pro4 Service Course......wow, big difference indeed! I'm going to have to revert to all the review cliches..( fast rolling, easy to spin up to speed etc)..but I'm genuinely surprised at the noticeable improvements even I can discern - I'd kind of assumed all these thing you read in reviews don't apply to ordinary cyclists!..
...here's an example....you know when you're cruising along on the flat at a good sustainable pace, just in the right gear and cadence to bowl along nicely...then you either hit the smallest of inclines, or just lose concentration or take a drink, and find yourself off the pace and having to push just for 5 or 6 revolutions to get back up to speed...well that's when I really noticed it...felt effortless and almost instant response compared to before...

..so there we go, one rabbit in a euphoric state! ..next stop, a set of hand-builts for the summer....

Carbon, of course...